From the prior art, it is known to provide a pressure point which can be felt by the operator of the gas pedal when a certain position of a gas pedal of a motor vehicle is reached, which pressure point can be overcome by applying greater force, after which a certain action in the vehicle is triggered. Such a pressure point is implemented, for example, as a mechanical pressure point, e.g., as a kickdown switch for an automatic transmission. Such kickdown switches are usually mechanical components, which are located at the end of actuating travel for a gas pedal and, there, provide a corresponding shift point, which is noticeable as an increase in pressure at the foot of the operator.
Vehicles comprising different types of drive systems which propel the vehicle, either in combination or individually, utilize electric drive systems, for example, in interaction with internal combustion engines. Vehicles of this kind are hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) or mild hybrid electric vehicles (MHEV). Such vehicles can be moved, at least along some portions of the route, in the purely electric drive mode, in which an internal combustion engine is not involved and is switched off. Usually, depending on the gas pedal position implemented by the operator and/or the manner in which the operator actuates the gas pedal, a decision is reached by a control unit as to whether the internal combustion engine should be activated or not. When the vehicle driver operates the gas pedal, unintentional movements of the gas pedal can occur, which the vehicle electronics interpret, in an undesirable manner, as a special request for propulsion and therefore activate the internal combustion engine. This can happen even if an activation of the internal combustion engine were avoidable due to a sufficiently high state of charge of the on-board batteries and/or the traffic situation. An unintentional activation of the internal combustion engine results in undesirable additional fuel consumption, handling which is perceived as poor and irregular, and unnecessary exhaust gas emissions. In certain application cases which are also often still susceptible to a misinterpretation of gas pedal movements implemented by the operator, e.g., when the vehicle is being parked, an unintentional activation of the internal combustion engine can result in undesired additional torque delivery to the wheels.